While it’s important to stay informed and remain prepared, we encourage our Council members to take care of yourself and seek support if needed during this time. Please be safe and stay healthy. API Social Work Council is here with you.

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿Latest Updates:

Statement by Janlee Wong, NASW-CA Executive Director

While recent events seem to indicate an increase in racism, we all know that it is ever present and must be fought continuously. The recent events involving Christian Cooper (NYC), Ahmaud Aubrey (GA) and George Floyd (MN) point to how imbedded racism is in American society and culture and how it can end in tragedy and loss of life.

NASW and other organizations have been in the forefront of fighting racism and promoting social justice. These efforts include training and education efforts, as well as advocacy and policy efforts. Yet these efforts cannot achieve significant progress without demonstrated and committed leadership at all levels.

Action Steps:• Federal and state leadership need to collect more data about police violence and encounters• Local leadership need to support and reinforce these data collection efforts.• Vigorous anti-racism training and education efforts at the federal, state, and local levels.• Extending these efforts to primary and secondary education, community organizations and social media.

While NASW and many other organizations can advocate for these steps, we need Americans to take this up at every level. Social workers can raise the questions at every level they are involved with. If you are in contact with law enforcement or can get in contact with law enforcement, open the discussion with the goal of fighting racism and promoting social justice. Because we are professional social workers we can guide and influence the effort towards education and policy reform. COVID has taken our attention but we have not forgotten racism is ever present and we need to and can do something about it.​To read the full statement please click here: https://naswcanews.org/executive-directors-message-racism-…/​#blacklivesmatter

Webinars: Death and Grief during COVID-19 in Cantonese and Mandarin (5/24 & 5/31)

​Our webinars, Death and Grief during COVID-19, in Cantonese and Mandarin were indeed a success! Thanks a million to Mr.Arnold Leung and Mr. 冯以量for donating their time and sharing their experiences and expertise! Because of their compassion and efforts, nearly 1,000 people from the U.S., Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China learned more about the topic of death and grief! I am very grateful that these webinars were recorded with the permissions of Arnold and Yee Leong. I hope the recorded videos will benefit more people who are interested in this topic.Special thanks to our partner of these webinars, AAMARS 香港中文大學宗教研究文學碩士課程校友會, and all behind-the-scene workers from Arnold and Yee Leong’s teams. Of course, deepest gratitude for our APISWC Steering Committee for their hard work and support!

​Social Work Month Celebration & COVID-19 Peer Support Group Webinar

API Social Work Council 2020 Lunar New Year Celebration

Members of our Asian Pacific Islander Social Work Council celebrated the Lunar New Year with a luncheon at the Old Mandarin Islamic Restaurant in San Francisco.

This restaurant was recommended by the Executive Director of NASW, Janlee Wong. Old Mandarin Islamic Restaurant is especially interesting because it is not the typical Chinese restaurant, but one that focuses on Western China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan, as well as one that prepares its dishes in accordance with halal or Islamic law. The restaurant presents the cultures of Chinese and Muslim.

During the luncheon, in addition to networking opportunities, we also provided a brief update about recent and upcoming Council events.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Workshop​by Phillip Cha, LMFT

API Social Work Council hosted a great workshop on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy by Phillip Cha, LMFT, at Mission Hospice & Home Care. 👍

API Council Members in Action at NASW CA Annual Conference!

Thanks to our APISWC members for volunteering at this year’s California Social Work Hall of Distinction Reception and Induction Ceremony. Witnessing the induction of the 6 social workers into the Hall of Distinction and hearing about their accomplishments and contributions was truly inspiring!

Congratulations to the two recipients of the 2019 Diana Ming Chan Bilingual Social Work Scholarship: Hiu (Fiona) Cheung from San Jose State University; and Julius Ervin Javier from San Jose State University. ​​Click here to learn more about Fiona and Julius! ​​

The scholarship awards was presented during a special awards ceremony at the NASW State Conference on Saturday, November 2, 2019.

​API Social Work Council Co-chair, Janice Jiewen Huang and Dora Dui Chen introduced the awards winners at the NASW-CA Awards Ceremony where each of them were recognized.

Diana Ming Chan’s husband, Clarence, and their 2 children also attended the Awards Ceremony.

Upcoming Event:

Previous Events:

2020

2019

2018

DACA and The Effects on API Communities: What Social Workers Need to Know

Thanks to those of you who were able to join us this past Friday evening at the Marriott San Mateo SFO Airport Hotel for a very interesting presentation by staff from Chinese for Affirmative Action on "DACA and the Effects on API Communities: What Social Workers Need to Know". The presenters, Hong Mei Pang and Annette Wong, brought a great deal of resources to share. The Council is very grateful to them for sharing their time and expertise with us. Please go to Chinese for Affirmative Action's website www.caasf.org for more information about the services they provide. The San Francisco Immigrant Legal and Education Network (www.sfilen.org) also provides some great resources. Please check them out when you have a chance.

Legal and Social Impacts of the Immigration Ban

On May 6, 2017, The API Social Work Council invited immigration attorney, Nancy Hing Wong, from Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach to speak on the "Legal and Social Impacts of the Immigration Ban." Ms. Wong gave a very informative presentation as well as made available a number of useful resources. Council co-chair, Richell Jose, and co-founding member, Nancy Lim-Yee, presented information about the API Social Work Council during the meeting. Our Council member, Jenny Kwak, talked briefly about her article "Standing Up", which recently appeared in NASW-CA News.

There is an ever-growing body of research to suggest all addictions – substance-based or otherwise, have shared causal pathways, and therefore have commonalities in disease maintenance, treatment, and recovery. This workshop will present current neurological research on the process of addiction, and provide practical interventions for promoting brain healing and recovery.

For the past 9 years, Michael S. Liao, MSW has been providing problem gambling training and technical assistance to various groups throughout the state of California. He has also authored various problem gambling training curricula and academic publications.

Light lunch provided & 2 CEUs for LCSW/LMFT!*Free* for members or $10 at the door.$10 annual membership pays for itself!

2015

API Social Worker Council: 20th Year Anniversary Celebration!!

It's time to celebrate! APISWC is turning 20! Let's come together on August 22nd to share a meal, reflect together on our accomplishments, reunite with familiar faces, and look forward to the next 20 years!